 Art
for the Literati
Mark Ulriksen (B.A., Visual Communication, ’80) earns his
keep painting pictures of his favorite subjects: baseball, dogs,
and jazz greats. Tough job, but someone’s got to do it.
After graduating, Ulriksen headed back to the Bay Area, land of
his boyhood. He paid his dues as a graphic designer and was working
as a magazine art director when, in one preposterously fortuitous
week in late 1993, he hit the illustrator’s equivalent of
a triple: assignments from Esquire, Rolling Stone, and
GQ. Goodbye, day job.
 Six
months later, the first of Ulriksen’s many New Yorker
magazine covers appeared. The May 30, 1994, cover, “The Clintons,”
is his quirky interpretation of the First Family. Ulriksen soon
became a regular contributor.
Sports Illustrated had previously rejected a bunch of Ulriksen’s
sketches. After the Clinton piece appeared, SI rang up,
singing a different tune. “They said, ‘We saw what you
did with The New Yorker,’” recalls Ulriksen.
“The Clinton piece put me on the map as a new face in the
field of editorial illustration.”
Since then, Ulriksen’s artwork has appeared in many publications,
including the New York Times Magazine, The Atlantic
Monthly, and Time. He also does illustrations for
advertising and children’s books, commissions, and gallery
paintings, working primarily with acrylic on paper, board, canvas,
and wood. Check out more of Ulriksen’s work at www.markulriksen.com
(you can view several New Yorker covers, including “The
Clintons”).
In 1995, Ulriksen was chosen as the Distinguished Alumnus of the
College of Communication and Education. He is married to Leslie
Flores (B.A., Information and Communication Studies, ’81).
They live in San Francisco with their two daughters, who like to
go to Giants games, and Henry, a chocolate Lab.
Lisa Kirk, Public Affairs and Publications
|
